Name: Banana Fritters
Ingredients: 1 cup sour milk; 1 teaspoon soda; 2 cups flour; one cup sugar; 1 cup molasses; 1 cup butter; 3 cups flour; 1 tablespoonful of ginger; 1 tablespoon of vinegar; 1 teaspoon of soda; one cup thick sour cream; 1 teaspoonful soda stirred into cream to foam; 1 cup sugar; 1 teaspoonful cinnamon; one-half cups brown sugar; two eggs; 3 bananas; 1 egg; 2 eggs; salt; ginger; vinegar

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sour milk: Its acidity reacts with the soda to make the batter light and airy.
Soda: Reacts with the sour milk to release gas, helping the fritters rise.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the batter together while it fries.
Bananas: Add moisture and natural sweetness to the batter.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add richness and structure.

The step that matters

Frying the batter. The lard must be hot before the batter goes in. If it is too cool, the fritters absorb excess fat and turn greasy and heavy instead of crisping on the outside while cooking through.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, sugar, molasses, butter, vinegar, cream):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, sugar, molasses, butter, vinegar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Sour Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Banana	1 medium (118g)	105
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Banana Fritters

Banana Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Fry and serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)